Five names for appeals court so far

There are a least five potential candidates for a pending seat on the Court of Appeals.

Appeals Court Judge James Haley will be retiring later this year, so the General Assembly will be choosing a successor this session.

Maybe. That’s if the House and Senate can get along and the evenly split Democrats and Republicans can reach an agreement.

The Senate was later than usual in organizing, which may account for the slowness in candidates coming forward; Haley made his announcement in December.

The Virginia State Bar will be vetting candidates early next month and other bars have announced their interview plans as well.

So far, we have been able to glean the names of five potential candidates:

• Tazewell County Circuit Judge Teresa Chafin. The candidate backed by Del. Terry Kilgore.
• Collin Hite, a commercial litigator at the Richmond office of McGuireWoods LLP.
• Monica Monday, a Roanoke lawyer who specializes in appellate practice
• Fairfax Circuit Judge Lorraine Nordlund. The candidate backed by Del. David Albo and other legislators from Northern Virginia.
• Larry Shelton, the federal public defender in the Western District

Stay tuned as more candidates may come forward by next week’s VSB deadline of Feb. 1.